Heritage Hope In Danish Plan For Serampore (West Bengal, India)

Heritage hope in Danish plan for Serampore

Bente Wolff, curator, National Museum of Denmark, and (right) architect Flemming Aalund check out the restoration work being done at the former Danish Government House. Pictures by Pradip Sanyal

Writing about the once bustling town of Serampore with its buildings constructed in the neo-classical architectural style, which was in vogue then, a traveller wrote in 1803: “they (the houses) were in themselves picturesque being white, with expensive porticoes to the south, and the windows closed by Venetian blinds painted green.”As in Calcutta and most district towns in West Bengal, most of these elegant structures have been superseded by concrete boxes which have usurped the riverside, and elbowed aside old and graceful private houses as well. But now, it seems, change is in the air, and heritage could get a new lease of life. The West Bengal Heritage Commission (WBHC) in tandem with the National Museum of Denmark and Intach have grand plans for the revival of Serampore, a former Danish colony, once known as Frederiksnagore in honour of the Danish king, Frederik V, who ruled from 1746 to 1766. The Danes held sway from 1755 to 1845. Now they are back again on a mission to restore some of its lost glory all but wiped out, save in pockets such as the compound of Serampore sub-divisional court, where the old single-storeyed, colonnaded Danish Government House (1771) or Governor’s House is located; the town’s most visible landmark, St. Olav’s Church (1806), whose steeple can be seen from Barrackpore on the opposite bank of the Hooghly; the Catholic Church (1776); and further down the strand, the well-looked-after Serampore College (1823), which, in spite of its grandeur, is beset by the ugliest of modern structures that threaten to eclipse its magnificence. Restoration of the Danish Government House has been under way since 2009, when the WBHC decided to refurbish it. But now that the Danes — a team from the National Museum of Denmark that has been shuttling back and forth since 2008 — have joined hands, more ambitious plans are afoot to turn it into a tourist destination linking it with other former colonies along the Hooghly.

The south gate of the former Government House of Denmark as it is today; a watercolour by Flemming Aalund gives an impression of what it should look like after its restoration is complete

Serampore is famous for its jute mills, which are in bad shape now as elsewhere, carpentry, block printing and textiles, the Government College of Engineering & Textile Technology being located there. The market here is the second biggest after Calcutta and the Rathyatra of Mahesh draws crowds. A class of trading middlemen had prospered under Danish rule, and after the Danes were compelled to hand over the entire property to the English for a paltry sum of Rs 1.2 million on October 11, 1845, Serampore became industrialised. It attracted hordes of poor landless workers from the neighbouring states and slums burgeoned all over. Clearing away the morass and showcasing isolated heritage structures will be a formidable task but those who have undertaken it seem undaunted. The aim of the National Museum of Denmark “is to enhance the specific historic identity of Serampore, but also to improve the aesthetic and recreational qualities of the town”. The truly democratic mindset of the Danes has expedited matters because, apart from the thorough and painstaking research that they have done, and the stress that they lay on documentation, they are eager to ensure that the conservation projects are inclusive and that local people feel they are part of it. The Hooghly district magistrate Manmeet Nanda voices their opinion when she says: “Serampore is a historical town and the projects are citizen-centric. So they are all happy that certain heritage buildings will occupy a visibly prominent place.” If this very ambitious Serampore Initiative is even partially successful, it will serve as a model for similar conservation projects not only in the entire state but for heedless Calcutta in particular. Partha Ranjan Das, chairman, project committee, WBHC, says a draft master plan for the entire 15,000sq ft court compound will be ready by the end of this month and submitted to the district magistrate. “We are waiting for feedback and then it will be revised. We will then declare a heritage precinct in Serampore. The buildings belonging to the Goswami family and the riverfront will not be left out. There will be a control mechanism for new buildings. It should be a mix of old and new buildings. There should be no tall buildings. New buildings should be of exposed brick. The bus stand in front of the court will be removed. A new location has been identified but a new building for the bus terminus is not ready as funds are not available.”

Bente Wolff, conservation architect Manish Chakraborti and Flemming Aalund survey the heavily damaged St. Olav’s Church

“The National Museum of Denmark has earmarked funds for the restoration of St. Olav’s Church and the south gate of the old Government House. If the bus terminus is shifted new funds for further projects will be released. Restoration of a ruined building next to Nisan ghat, which appears in a painting by Peter Anker of 1790, is likely as well. Landscaping of the river bank, restoration of the Danish cemetery and a tourist master plan are also proposed,” says museum curator Bente Wolff, who was recently here along with restoration architect Flemming Aalund. The latter and historian Simon Rasten had earlier produced the report titled Indo-Danish Heritage Buildings of Serampore. The state government has no allocation for restoration. Last year, the Centre had granted Rs 80 crore. Initially, Rs 34.8 lakh was spent on the Government House in the court compound, and in the second phase the expenditure will be Rs 34.5 lakh. The brick wall around the former Danish compound was originally erected in 1780 by Lieutenant Colonel Ole (Olav) Bie, governor of Frederiksnagore. The former Government House was built in several stages but the original façade from the 1770s still exists. Till 1999 it was used as a court house and it was condemned thereafter. Now, the restoration work is on at full pace. A concrete staircase erected at some stage has been removed. The original beams had earlier been replaced with steel joists. Some architectural features are being recreated. Gopa Sen, an architect, had started the work, and has now been joined by conservation architect Manish Chakraborti who is providing further expertise. The back gate of the compound will be restored first, followed by the main gate, according to the plans of the National Museum of Denmark. The mason who is heading the team is Mia Sardar of Murshidabad, who says he was involved in the restoration of the Victoria Memorial Hall, Currency Building, Metcalfe Hall and Jorasanko Thakurbari. His speciality is working with lime, an old skill which some architects are trying to revive. Wolff and Aalund say the Government House may be turned into a museum and they wish that the compound would be used for the recreation of local people. Denmark’s forthcoming project is the once-perfectly-symmetrical south gate of the building, whose construction is attributed to the Danish engineer, Major B.A. von Wickede, who was responsible for building the prison, the main building of the Serampore College and the completion of St. Olav’s Church. After the construction of the new land registration office building and the godown for storage of election material next to it, the derelict gate was hardly visible, obscured even further by the promiscuous growth of plants, and the hawkers and rickshaws. The Danes will restore it on condition that the election godown is demolished. Hawkers and rickshaws may remain at the side of the gate, but not directly in front of it. “If we put in money in the restoration the management must be in place,” says Wolff. G.M. Kapur, state convenor and governing council member, Intach, says the organisation which the Centre has recognised as a “centre of excellence” and for which a budgetary allocation of Rs 100 crore has been made, is managing the project on behalf of the National Museum of Denmark. “The National Museum of Denmark has earmarked funds for the restoration of St. Olav’s Church and the south gate of the old Government House. If the bus terminus is shifted new funds for further projects will be released. Restoration of a ruined building next to Nisan ghat, which appears in a painting by Peter Anker of 1790, is likely as well. Landscaping of the river bank, restoration of the Danish cemetery and a tourist master plan are also proposed,” says museum curator Bente Wolff, who was recently here along with restoration architect Flemming Aalund. The latter and historian Simon Rasten had earlier produced the report titled Indo-Danish Heritage Buildings of Serampore.

The state government has no allocation for restoration. Last year, the Centre had granted Rs 80 crore. Initially, Rs 34.8 lakh was spent on the Government House in the court compound, and in the second phase the expenditure will be Rs 34.5 lakh. The brick wall around the former Danish compound was originally erected in 1780 by Lieutenant Colonel Ole (Olav) Bie, governor of Frederiksnagore. The former Government House was built in several stages but the original façade from the 1770s still exists. Till 1999 it was used as a court house and it was condemned thereafter. Now, the restoration work is on at full pace. A concrete staircase erected at some stage has been removed. The original beams had earlier been replaced with steel joists. Some architectural features are being recreated. Gopa Sen, an architect, had started the work, and has now been joined by conservation architect Manish Chakraborti who is providing further expertise. The back gate of the compound will be restored first, followed by the main gate, according to the plans of the National Museum of Denmark. The mason who is heading the team is Mia Sardar of Murshidabad, who says he was involved in the restoration of the Victoria Memorial Hall, Currency Building, Metcalfe Hall and Jorasanko Thakurbari. His speciality is working with lime, an old skill which some architects are trying to revive. Wolff and Aalund say the Government House may be turned into a museum and they wish that the compound would be used for the recreation of local people. Denmark’s forthcoming project is the once-perfectly-symmetrical south gate of the building, whose construction is attributed to the Danish engineer, Major B.A. von Wickede, who was responsible for building the prison, the main building of the Serampore College and the completion of St. Olav’s Church. After the construction of the new land registration office building and the godown for storage of election material next to it, the derelict gate was hardly visible, obscured even further by the promiscuous growth of plants, and the hawkers and rickshaws. The Danes will restore it on condition that the election godown is demolished. Hawkers and rickshaws may remain at the side of the gate, but not directly in front of it. “If we put in money in the restoration the management must be in place,” says Wolff. G.M. Kapur, state convenor and governing council member, Intach, says the organisation which the Centre has recognised as a “centre of excellence” and for which a budgetary allocation of Rs 100 crore has been made, is managing the project on behalf of the National Museum of Denmark.

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Published in The Telegraph (India)

Date: Thursday, 14th March

By Soumitra Das

Chronicler of Heritage

Chronicler of Heritage

Having turned to Oriental philosophy in search of existential questions 15 years back, French national Nawang Jinpa is now documenting the rich history of the Drukpa lineage of Buddhism at Ladakh’s Hemis monastery

Hemis Monastery, Ladakh

The 45-km-stretch from Leh takes a small detour, snaking through about seven km of winding road, to lead up to the Hemis monastery, home to more than 1,000 resident and visiting monks and nuns who pray, meditate and work with their present spiritual leader, the Gyalwang Drukpa. They work with the communities that dot the fascinating albeit harsh landscape of snow, mountains and barren patches of rocky land. What few know is that the Tibetan Buddhist monastery is also the hub of a lot of study and research activity with international scholars, volunteers and Buddhists being in residence and/or visiting on a regular basis. Belonging to the Drukpa lineage or the Dragon Order of Mahayana Buddhism, Hemis was founded in the 13 century and later re-established in the 17th century.

Fifty-three-year-old Nawang Jinpa has been coming to Hemis for the last 15 years, staying for three to six months at a stretch. She is working on documenting the 800-year history of the Drukpa lineage. A French national, she turned eastwards seeing the immense wisdom that Oriental philosophy and religion offered following her own disillusionment with the western way of life which was “so empty, shallow and directionless”. She came initially in search of answers to some of her existential questions and then stayed on. Her search took her to Lahaul, where she spent a few years studying and working with children before moving to Ladakh. She is presently recording local stories and is often the first point of contact for visitors at Hemis, taking them around, telling them about the Drukpa lineage and its fascinating tales. She tells you that all erstwhile kings of Ladakh had their religious gurus at the Hemis. And though the formal powers may have been surrendered, the dynastic culture and social status of His Holy Highness has stayed with hundreds of thousands of people thronging the place during local festivals and through the year to hear and seek his blessings. The monastery is like an institution which traces its intellectual order from the Vajrayana school of Tantric Buddhism which is divided into several sects like Kargyu, Sakya, Gelug. The practices in the monastery are direct lineal descent of the teachings of the Mahayoga Tantra school.

The Hemis monastery is the biggest land owner in all of Ladakh. Its funds are used to promote culture, education and religious studies. According to Nawang, Ladakh has a lot in common with Bhutan which is why so many leaders from Bhutan were present for the Annual Drukpa Council in October this year. Earlier the Prince of Ladakh used to became the spiritual leader of Bhutan. The Drukpa Council meeting was held for the fourth time in Ladakh and first time in Hemis. She is piecing every bit of information, engaging in conversations with people in person, through an interpreter and on email with disciples across the world.

What she finds most fascinating is that the lineage’s spiritual tradition is of renunciation. With change in time and culture, however, the masters began to feel the need to connect more with the people, talking about their rich and ancient lineage. In an 800-year plus lineage, it is expected to find books, notes, records of meetings and religious manuscripts but not much is there in the archives. According to Nawang, “a lot of it got destroyed with invaders who attacked Ladakh and threw them in the Indus river.” She adds that though there is an abundance of information on the political history of the region, not much is available on the religious and spiritual history. “The Drukpa lineage was known as the pure or white lineage. It did not propagate its teachings through written content, but focused on people to people interaction, which was more private.”

On a spiritual journey: Nawang Jinpa

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Published in The Hindu

By Taru Bahl

Dated: 26th Dec. 2012

Jahangir’s Christmas Gift

R. V. Smith talks of the secular nature of Christmas festivities in the Mughal era

When Jahangir came on one of his last visits to Delhi, in 1625-26, it happened to be the Christmas season. To mark the occasion, says an old but credible story, Armenian merchant Khwaja Mortiniphus presented him with five bottles of the wine of Oporto. The emperor was greatly pleased with the gesture and asked the merchant what he should give him as a present in return. The Khwaja said he had, by God’s grace, everything he could want and that he was already beholden to the emperor for allowing him to trade in his empire. Jahangir appreciated the comment but still insisted on giving him a gift— a precious diamond from the Golconda mines. The merchant in turn presented the diamond to his dear patron Mirza Zulquarnain, who was regarded by Akbar as a foster-brother and made Governor of Sambar (Rajputana)— where the Mughal salt works were located. The Mirza, also an Armenian Christian, got the diamond mounted on a gold ring which he wore nearly all his life.

Jahangir, while in Delhi, incidentally, used to live in Salimgarh, built by Sher Shah’s son Salim Shah, as at that time there was no Red Fort— of which the older citadel now forms an extension. In summer he preferred to stay on a floating camp of boats on the Yamuna. The Armenians, who had two churches in Delhi (both destroyed by Nadir Shah in 1739) used to hold a Christmas drama at which Mughal nobles and Rajput chieftains were among the prominent invitees. They sought the emperor’s presence at the play in 1625-26 and Jahangir agreed as he sometimes used to attend a similar one held in Agra since his father’s time. At that play, records the Franciscan Annals, little boys and girls dressed as angels, took part on Christmas night. The emperor was present and rose petals were showered on him. Earlier, “on Christmas morning Akbar used to come to the church (he had ordered to be built) with his courtiers to see the representation of the cave in which Jesus was born and the good shepherds kept watch. Afterwards the ladies of his harem also visited the manger.” Jahangir once presented beeswax candles at the church at Lahore, “through which he was conducted like a bishop, to the chiming of bells and singing of carols”. Talking of bells, one of the bells of Akbar’s Church is said to have fallen down when the sacristan “went mad with joy” and pulled and tugged at the bell-rope, along with his friends, on the baptism day of Jahangir’s nephews. The bell was so big that even an elephant could not carry it to the Kotwali for repairs.

To come back to the Xmas gift, while on his death-bed, Mirza Zulquarnain (known as the father of Mughal Christianity) gave the ring with Jahangir’s diamond to the Father Provincial of the Agra-based-Hindustan-Tibet Apostolic Mission, of which Delhi was a part. From him it was passed on to the succeeding prelates till it came to the Italian Archbishop Dr Raphael Angelo Bernacchioni of Figilne, who died at Dehra Dun while on a visit in 1937. But before that the Archbishop nearly lost the prized ring at Agra.

According to the late Natalia Bua, an Armenian descendant herself, “One day after lunch while the Archbishop was washing his hands outside his kitchen, he took off the ring and kept it on the wash basin. A vulture, attracted by the brilliant diamond, carried it away to its nest under the statue of Michael the Archangel, along with the smouldering stub of the cigar the Archbishop had just discarded (and kept near the ring). Dr Raphael looked with dismay at the nest, with a prayer on his lips and, believe it or not, the nest suddenly caught fire and the bright ring, along with the still burning nest, fell 100 yards away on the steps of Agra’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Servants were sent to search for it and they succeeded in finding the ring and returning it to the Archbishop. What happened to it after his death is not known but some think it was buried along with him under the Cathedral altar.

May be the medieval ring is still there— an emperor’s priceless Xmas gift to a pious merchant, whose mausoleum, known as Padre Santus’ Chapel is situated in old Lashkarpur’s Martyrs’ cemetery in a grove gifted by Akbar to a saintly Armenian woman, Mariam Pyari.

Can anyone visiting Salimgarh during these Yuletide days ever imagine that Jahangir once played Santa Claus there? A vulture, interestingly enough, still builds its nest under the wings of the Archangel’s 1840s Belgium-built statue, perched high up on the Cathedral façade.

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Published in The Hindu

Written by R.V. Smith

Date: 23rd Dec. 2012

Gypsy roots to Doms

Gypsy roots to Doms - Discrimination survives, 1400 years on

Migration of Gypsies

A genetic study has for the first time traced the origins of Europe’s gypsy populations to the ancestors of today’s Doms, a Dalit sub-caste in India. Indian scientists collaborating with European and US researchers have shown that Europe’s Romani people, or gypsies, are the descendants of the Doms from northwest India who migrated to Europe about 1,400 years ago.

Their study, published in the journal PLoS One, is the first to establish a source population in India for gypsies, though linguistic and genetic research had already pinpointed India as their original homeland. Some historians had, on the basis of linguistic affinities, attempted to link the gypsies to the Doms but without hard evidence. The Doms are themselves believed to be descendants of the subcontinent’s aboriginal populations who were assimilated into the caste system and traditionally assisted in cremations.

The estimated 11 million Romani people who make up Europe’s largest minority group have long faced social discrimination that, members of this ethnic group say, makes it hard for them to get jobs, accommodation or good education. “We now have powerful genetic evidence to show that the Doms of India became the Romas of Europe,” said Kumarasamy Thangaraj, a scientist at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, the study’s principal investigator. Thangaraj and his colleagues analysed genetic material from 3,498 people drawn from 57 populations across India and compared it with genetic information about Romani people documented earlier by independent research groups.

The study looked for subtle changes in genetic sequences over time that allow scientists to reconstruct a family tree of populations that provides information about migrations, origins, and affinities between different population groups. The scientists found genetic patterns that suggest that the ancestors of the Romani people were Doms from northwest India who had migrated to Europe most likely about 1,405 years ago, that is, in the early seventh century AD. However, limitations of the genetic studies impose wide error margins that could place this migration anytime between the 1st century AD and 12th century AD.

Thangaraj said the study is also the first to suggest a geographic location for what could have been the founder populations of the Doms themselves — stone-age hunter-gatherers in southern India 24,000 years ago. The genetic studies point to several waves of movements of this aboriginal founder population — the first about 21,000 years ago towards eastern and northeast India, another about 19,000 years ago into the north, and a third 16,000-18,000 years ago into northwest India.

“We can’t say what sparked the exodus of some Doms towards Europe about 1,400 years ago,” Thangaraj said. In the past, some historians have suggested that the Ghaznavid invasions into modern-day Pakistan (about 1,000 years ago) could have prompted them to travel westward. Others have suggested that the position of the Doms in the caste system might have been another reason to move. Large sections of the Romani people continue to face discrimination across Europe even today, a spokesperson for the Gypsy Council in the UK said.

“The Romani people continue to experience discrimination -– it’s hard to find jobs (and) accommodation, and educational opportunities are not good,” Joseph G. Jones, the Gypsy Council spokesperson, told The Telegraph over the phone. In October 2011, the Gypsy Council wrote to the United Nations seeking its recognition of the Romani flag as a symbolic “act of recognition and respect, which would give some small status and support for Romani communities”.

“Our request to the UN has been completely ignored,” Jones said today. “We even went to the UN headquarters, and they refused to talk with us. Palestine has been granted observer status by the UN. We’re not asking for any land, only for equal rights.”

Thangaraj and his Indian colleagues collaborated with scientists in Estonia, Switzerland, the UK and the US in their attempts to trace the roots of the Romanis. An independent genetic study led by scientists in Spain and the Netherlands, published last week in the journal Current Biology, also placed the out-of-India exodus of the ancestors of the Romani at about 1,500 years ago but did not identify them as Doms. “We were interested in exploring the population history of the Romani because they constitute an important fraction of (the) European population,” anthropologist David Comas at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain, said in a media release issued last week by Current Biology. “But their marginalised situation in many countries also seems to have affected their visibility in scientific studies.”

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Published in The Telegraph (India)

Date: 14th Dec. 2012

By G.S. Mudur

Throne of contention......

Throne of contention...........

History Seater: The existing marble platform at the Diwan-i-Khas is roughly 4X4, which the Archaeological Survey of India claims supported the original Peacock Throne. There's no pietra dura work on either the platform or the pedestal.

The mystery of the Peacock Throne lingers on. This ornate seat once stood inside the magnificent Diwan-i-Khas in the 17th-century Red Fort, a testimony to the wealth and power of the Mughal Empire. It disappeared some 265 years ago, but an empty marble platform in the palace kept alive the mystique of this most expensive and beautiful throne ever made. 

For more than a century, history books said the Peacock Throne stood over this platform, until Persian invader Nadir Shah took away the throne to Iran in 1739. Even the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), in its description of the Diwan-i-Khas, says: "Over the marble pedestal in its centre stood the famous Peacock Throne..."

But there are many reasons to doubt if the platform left behind really held the throne. 

Sunday Times stumbled upon a 1908 article in The New York Times archives with the headline, 'Indian treasure for Metropolitan'. It talked about Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke, the then curator of the Museum, purchasing one of the two surviving pedestals of the original marble platform. Clarke was quoted in the piece: "...It is lavished with the most wonderful carving and the curved surfaces are all inlaid with agates, lapis lazuli, jade and carnelian. The workmanship is so extremely difficult that the piece is almost unique...There is one of its mates in England, but it is marred and chipped, the soldiers having picked many stones from it." 

After the British recaptured Delhi in September 1857 during the Revolt, they let loose a reign of terror. Vandalism and looting inside the Red Fort was extant; but order was restored after a while and Colonel Robert Tytler was put in charge of the fort. According to Sir Clarke, the original marble platform, which was studded with exquisite stones and was a marvel in inlaid marble, was destroyed and two of its pedestals lost; but Colonel Tytler and his wife Harriet, who would later document all heritage buildings in Delhi, rescued the other two pedestals of which one was in good condition. The couple retained the pedestals until Tytler's death. In 1892, Harriet sold one of the pedestals to the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) for £20; and after her death, Sir Purdon Clarke purchased the other pedestal for the Metropolitan Museum. 

When this reporter sent an email to the museum seeking details of the pedestal, he was asked why he wanted to know. When told it was for a newspaper report, the museum authorities, surprisingly, stopped responding. Five more emails elicited no response. The item is not listed in the museum's online catalogue, and a gallery search, too, threw up a blank. However, the pedestal's details were found in the museum's annual bulletin of 1908 where Clarke had described the item and its purchase history. There was also a black and white photograph of it, apart from the list of acquisitions made by the museum that year. Inquiries with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London revealed they still have the other pedestal. 

Emperor Shah Jahan who ruled from 1628 to 1658 had commissioned the Peacock Throne. Bebadal Khan supervised the work and was given 1,150 kg of gold and 230 kg of jewels, which included the Koh-i-noor, Akbar Shah and Jahangir diamonds and the Timur ruby. The throne took seven years to complete, and Shah Jahan ascended it for the first time on March 12, 1635. French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier—who visited India first during Emperor Shah Jahan's reign and then again during Emperor Aurangzeb's reign—had the opportunity of observing the throne from close quarters. He described it in his Les Six Voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (Six Voyages of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier), and historians of the past and present have relied on this description. He said it was a rectangular throne, six feet long and four feet wide and resembled a 'field bed'. It had four sturdy legs about 20-25 inches in height and an arched canopy supported by 12 columns. He did not mention any platform. Neither did Mughal miniatures depict any platform. 

The dimensions of the present platform are also at variance with the throne. Each of its sides is four feet. One can't imagine Shah Jahan, whose love for symmetry is well-known, settling for a 4X4 platform for a 6X4 throne. What's more, the Throne was highly ornate, while this platform has no pietra dura work on it or its four legs. 

The last person who saw an intact Peacock Throne and drew a sketch of it was a European artist in the train of Nadir Shah. He recorded having seen a huge, heavy throne that resembled a small camp. 

When shown this evidence, Dr K K Mohammed, former superintending archaeologist of Delhi ASIand the man who had discovered Akbar's Ibadatkhana at Fatehpur Sikri in 1984, said, "Most of the known depictions of the throne generally miss the 12 pillars, which Tavernier said were decorated with exquisite pearls and were the most expensive part of the throne. We don't know why this discrepancy occurs, but the Mughal emperor had six other thrones as well. I will have to admit that yours is a great find and nobody has ever questioned the authenticity of the existing marble platform. Your evidence is compelling too. Hopefully, it will trigger further research. Who knows history may have missed something and more research might help us piece together this most intriguing puzzle," he said. 

Sunday Times wanted to know what modern builders think about this marble platform. We spoke to Achintya Bharadwaj, a civil engineer with a reputed firm specializing in infrastructure development. "Any structure will not have exactly vertical load distribution on the ground; in fact, the load distribution will be inclined at an angle with the vertical. The foundation or platform for any structure, therefore, usually has dimensions greater than the actual dimensions of the structure," he said. 

The Mughal engineers must have known this. 

The throne disappeared after Nadir Shah's assassination in 1747. It was either destroyed and its valuables looted, or dismantled and some of its parts used in the construction of a later throne, also called the Peacock Throne, which survives in Golestan Palace in Tehran. There are stories that the later Mughals used another throne, most probably a replica of the original. This, too, was destroyed. 

So what is the present platform? A plausible explanation is given by Herbert Charles Fanshawe, who prepared a detailed account of Shahjahanabad, in his 1902 book, 'Delhi: Past and Present': "At the back of the Hall (Diwan-i-Khas) is a marble platform seat, used as a throne by the later powerless emperors of Delhi." 

It's up to the ASI now to solve this mystery. 

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Published in The Times of India

Dated: 9th Dec. 2012

By Manimugdha S. Sharma (manimugdha.sharma@timesgroup.com)

Danish team on heritage trail...

Danish team on heritage trail...

Serampore (Hooghly): They wish to turn the clock back to a time when the ruins of Serampore used to be their very own Fredriksnagore. But it's bound to be a tall order for the Danish team that's here to dig out their glorious history, because the present hardly resembles the past.

That is evident from the sketches of the bygone era that conservation architect Flemming Aalund and historian Simon Rasten are carrying with them. The Serampore riverfront, cluttered with concrete structures of unvarying ugliness, doesn't look anything like the row of whitewashed buildings erected circa 1800 that depicts the silhouette of the heritage town in the sketches, with St Olav's Church as the most significant landmark. The steeple of St Olav's seems to be the only thin link between the past and the present. Architectural wonders have been reduced to haunted houses that serve as the perfect haven for anti-socials. Some of the crumbling buildings and monuments have been declared condemned by the PWD.

But not to be daunted by all this, the Danish team, along with a strong-willed district administration and West Bengal Heritage Commission (WBHC), has embarked upon possibly one of the most challenging assignments ever. The task is to trace out the Fredriksnagore and its picturesque white buildings with expensive porticos and Venetian blinds, from years of neglect and piles of rubble. The former Danish colony had been named after King Fredrik V who ruled between 1746 and 1766.

The National Museum of Denmark (NMD) had initiated the Serampore Initiative way back in 2008, but not much happened. But the project has now been revived with the WBHC signing an MoU with NMD to revive the glorious Indo-Danish past. Funds are flowing in from the Danish government's coffers as well as the Indian government's ministry of culture to execute the ambitious project in phases.

The Serampore Initiative, in its new avatar, involves preservation and enhancement of St Olav Church, the Government Compound, the former Danish Government House, the square in front of St Olav's Church and landscaping of the river bank area.

"This is the real beginning of this cooperation," said Flemming, "We have begun with the Government House that would be one of the greatest landmarks of Serampore. The building is testimony to the unique heritage originating from the Danish, British and Indian periods."

Inside, he pointed out the few traces left of the hugely elaborate facade as some masons worked meticulously to dig out the lime-stone tiles beneath the concrete flooring. The Danes ruled from here between 1755 and 1845, and the Government House was their epicentre. The British later added a new portion to the building, after the Danes left. There is a marked difference between this part of the building and the original structure.

"We are looking at a five-year timeframe to begin with. But more than the time, what is crucial is the sensitivity to bring out the past from the disorderly present," said Rasten, intrigued by the mishmash of architectural styles in the Danish, British and Indian eras.

Accompanying them was a WBHC team, led by chairman Shuvaprasanna. "Fredriksnagore is older than Kolkata. So we are determined to restore these derelict structures that have been camouflaged by years of insensitivity and neglect," said Shuvaprasanna. The MoU signed, WBHC is now concentrating on the Government House which will be turned into a museum portraying Serampore's rich past, the chairman said.

The labour of love is more than apparent. "Conservation is time-taking and needs a lot of patience," said conservation architect Partha Ranjan Das, who is a member of WBHC and chairman of the projects committee. "We have sent the mortar samples for testing. The lime mortar we will use should match the mix used by the Danes. Otherwise, it won't bind and cracks will develop," explained Das. WBHC has set up the lab recently to give holistic and scientific approach to conservation.

"The Serampore Initiative is not only about architecture and conservation. To execute the project, we must work in tandem with the administration and share every bit of our work. Or, everything will come to a naught," said architect and WBHC consultant Manish Chakraborty.

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Published in The Times of India

Dated: 4th Dec. 2012

By Ajanta Chakrobotry

Incorrect maps given to China led to 1962 war

Incorrect maps given to China led to 1962 war

India presented contradictory maps on the MacMohan Line to China in the fifties and in 1960-61, which ultimately led to the war with China in 1962. This revelation was made by Wajahat Habibullah, former chief information commissioner (CIC), perhaps the only civilian besides defence secretaries to have officially accessed the top secret Henderson Brookes-Bhagat report.

"We had given maps with serious contradictions on the layout of the MacMohan Line to China. This led the Chinese to believe that one of the pickets being controlled by our forces in the Northeast was theirs-according to one of the maps given to them by us," said Habibullah, declining to name the picket along the Arunachal Pradesh border with China.

Accordingly, on October 20, 1962, the Chinese army crossed over to occupy the border picket, leading to open hostilities.The 890-km-long MacMohan Line, laid down by the British in 1914, demarcates the border between Indian and China - although this is still contested by the latter. Lieutenant General Henderson Brooks and Brigadier Prem Bhagat compiled the Henderson Brooks-Bhagat report in 28 volumes in 1963, outlining the reasons for the defeat at the hands of the Chinese in 1962.

Stating that he still believes the report should not be declassified, Habibullah said: "From 1962, the deployment of our armed forces has not substantially changed in these areas. So, declassifying will lead to supplying the Chinese with defence information." "Moreover the report on the role of the Indian army is so scathing that it would have a demoralising effect on the forces even now," said Habibullah.

There are only two copies of the report in existence-one with the defence secretary and the other with Chinese top officials. Habibullah got the go-ahead to access to the report after journalist Kuldip Nayar's appeal under the RTI Act in 2005 to get a copy of the report.

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Published in the Hindustan Times

Dated: 22nd October 2012

By Sanjib Kr Baruah